The Victim (2006 film)

Last updated
The Victim
The Victim 2006 poster.jpg
The Thai theatrical release poster.
Directed by Monthon Arayangkoon
Written by Monthon Arayangkoon
Produced byJantima Lieawsirikum
Starring Pitchanart Sakakorn

Apasiri Nitibhon

Penpak Sirikul
CinematographyPaiboon Pupradub
Music byPatai Poungchneen
Distributed by RS Film
United International Pictures
Tartan Films
Golden Network Asia
Release date
  • October 12, 2006 (2006-10-12)(Thailand)
Running time
108 min
Country Thailand
Language Thai

The Victim (Kathleen Burdeos) is a 2006 Thai horror-thriller film written and directed by Monthon Arayangkoon. The film stars Pitchannart Sakakorn as a struggling young actress who takes a job working for the police department, re-enacting crime scenes, but starts to have frightening experiences when she takes on the role of a murdered beauty queen.

Contents

Plot

Ting is a struggling young actress who one day is noticed by Royal Thai Police Lieutenant Te, who heads up the crimes re-enactment unit and is always on the look-out for fresh talent. Ting is put to work playing the victim in photo shoots with the hand-cuffed accused killers and rapists at crime scenes. The photos are published in Thai newspapers as a means of the police publicizing that they have closed the case and done their jobs.

Ting takes a liking to her job, and is so convincing that even the criminals are moved to remorseful tears. Her popularity soaring, Ting is signed to play the lead in a film based on one of her true-crime re-enactments - the murder of Meen, a former Miss Thailand whose husband, Dr. Charun, is accused of the crime. Ting then starts experiencing some scary visions that lead her believe that Meen's longtime friend, Fai, is responsible.

Then it is revealed that the events were actually entirely a film about Meen's murder, and Ting is merely a character being played by another actress named May. But while on the set filming the movie, in real life May was really possessed by a spirit that is very obsessed with her.

Cast

Production

Origins

The concept of the film is based on an actual technique that is used in crime investigations by the Royal Thai Police, in which the crimes are re-enacted by handcuffed convicted criminals for the Thai media. Such photos are regularly seen in the mass-circulation daily newspapers of Thailand. [1]

"It all began when I watched the police investigating key criminal cases by using stand-ins to re-enact crime scenes," director Monthon Arayangkoon said in the film's production notes. "I wondered how those actors or actresses could handle such a horrifying task. Didn't they feel scared at all? For some scenes, like a rape scene, I can't help but wonder why they have to use a real woman to impersonate the victim. Didn't those who acted as the dead feel anything at all?" [2]

Locations

Some of the filming locations were actual famous crime scenes. These include "The Haunted House at Nong Jork", an unfinished house where a construction worker was killed during a drunken brawl. Work then stopped on the house and it has been used since as a place where criminals dump dead bodies. [3]

Another location is a deserted house in Bang Len, where in late 1990s the poorer suitor of a wealthy family's daughter was killed by the young woman's father, who opposed his daughter's relationship with the man. The dead man's family then hired a gunman to kill the father. The abandoned house was also the scene of a woman's hanging death. [2]

A third location is an abandoned hospital building at Bang Len, where illegal abortions were once performed and a seven-months pregnant woman was raped and killed. The woman's ghost was later seen at her own funeral, and the hospital has been abandoned since. [2]

At all the locations, film crews reported experiencing strange phenomena, such as noises, odd wind and faint images of faces on the film. [2]

The use of the locations was significant in Thailand, where belief in ghosts is common. [4]

Release

The Victim was released in Thai cinemas on October 12, 2006, and was screened on October 17 at the 2006 Pusan International Film Festival. [4] The film had its North American premiere at the 2007 Fantasia Festival in Montreal. [5] It was then released on English-subtitled DVD by Tartan Asia Extreme on September 18, 2007.

Reception

Variety critic Richard Kuipers, who reviewed the film at the 2006 Pusan International Film Festival called The Victim "an entertaining and suspenseful merger of ghost story and crime thriller", and praised the "neat back-flip" of a mid-film twist. [4]

Jeff Allard, writing for the horror-genre website, Shock Till You Drop, was more muted in this response, saying the film "is a moderate time waster that sports its share of interesting moments but thanks to a convoluted script, it can't deliver the cumulative effect that a good ghost story needs." [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>Detective Story</i> (1951 film) 1951 film by William Wyler

Detective Story is a 1951 American crime drama directed by William Wyler and starring Kirk Douglas that tells the story of one day in the lives of the various people who populate a police detective squad. The ensemble supporting cast features Eleanor Parker, William Bendix, Cathy O'Donnell, and George Macready. Both Lee Grant and Joseph Wiseman play large roles in their film debuts. The film was adapted by Robert Wyler and Philip Yordan from the 1949 play by Sidney Kingsley. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Academy Award for Best Director for Wyler, Best Actress for Parker, and Best Supporting Actress for Grant.

<i>Infernal Affairs II</i> 2003 Hong Kong film

Infernal Affairs II is a 2003 Hong Kong crime-action film directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. It is a prequel to the 2002 film Infernal Affairs. Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang, Edison Chen, Shawn Yue and Chapman To reprise their roles from the original film alongside new cast members Carina Lau, Francis Ng, Hu Jun and Roy Cheung. Neither Andy Lau nor Tony Leung, who played the central roles in the original, appear in this film as they are replaced by their younger versions portrayed by Chen and Yue respectively. The events of the film take place from 1991 to 1997. It was followed by Infernal Affairs III (2003), which is both a sequel and a semi-prequel to the original film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pen-ek Ratanaruang</span> Thai film director and screenwriter

Pen-ek Ratanaruang is a Thai film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his arthouse work, Last Life in the Universe, and is considered to be one of Thai cinema's leading "new wave" auteurs, alongside Wisit Sasanatieng and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. He goes by the nickname Tom and is sometimes credited as Tom Pannet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nonzee Nimibutr</span> Thai film director, film producer and screenwriter

Nonzee Nimibutr is a Thai film director, film producer and screenwriter. Best known for his ghost thriller, Nang Nak, he is generally credited as the leader among a "New Wave" of Thai filmmakers that also includes Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, Wisit Sasanatieng and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinema of Thailand</span>

The cinema of Thailand dates back to the early days of filmmaking, when King Chulalongkorn's 1897 visit to Bern, Switzerland was recorded by François-Henri Lavancy-Clarke. The film was then brought to Bangkok, where it was exhibited. This sparked more interest in film by the Thai Royal Family and local businessmen, who brought in filmmaking equipment and started to exhibit foreign films. By the 1920s, a local film industry had started and in the 1930s, the Thai film industry had its first "golden age", with a number of studios producing films.

<i>Crocodile Hunter</i> (film) 1989 Hong Kong film directed by Wong Jing

Crocodile Hunter (專釣大鱷) is a 1989 Hong Kong action comedy film written and directed by Wong Jing, and starring Andy Lau as an ace police officer who teams up with his less than competent subordinate to capture a group of wanted thieves with bounties on their heads.

<i>SARS Wars</i> 2004 Thai film

SARS Wars is a 2004 Thai action fantasy comedy horror film directed and co-written by Taweewat Wantha.

<i>Buppah Rahtree Phase 2: Rahtree Returns</i> 2005 Thai film

Buppah Rahtree Phase 2: Rahtree Returns is a 2005 Thai comedy-horror film written and directed by Yuthlert Sippapak. It is a sequel to the 2003 film, Buppah Rahtree.

<i>Midnight My Love</i> 2005 Thai film

Midnight My Love is a 2005 Thai romantic drama film written and directed by Kongdej Jaturanrasamee and starring Petchtai Wongkamlao and Woranut Wongsawan.

<i>Dorm</i> (film) 2006 Thai film

Dek hor is a 2006 Thai horror-drama film directed by Songyos Sugmakanan.

<i>Ploy</i> (film) 2007 Thai film

Ploy is a 2007 Thai film written and directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. The film premiered during the Directors' Fortnight at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

<i>Innocence</i> (2005 film) 2005 [[Cinema of Thailand|Thailand]] film

Innocence, is a 2005 Thai independent documentary film directed by Areeya Chumsai and Nisa Kongsri about a boarding school for hill tribe children in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand.

<i>Dark Heaven</i> 1958 film

Dark Heaven is a 1958 musical-comedy-romance-drama film directed by Rattana Pestonji and written by Suwat Woradilok.

Monthon Arayangkoon is a Thai film director, screenwriter and producer. His credits include Garuda, the first all-digital Thai film production. His other films include The Victim and The House. He attended Chulalongkorn University, graduating from the Faculty of Education, Department of Art Education.

<i>Tribu</i> (film) 2007 Filipino film

Tribu is a 2007 Filipino crime drama film directed by Jim Libiran, released in its home country of the Philippines. It stars real life gang members from the film's setting in Tondo, Manila. The tagline is: "Every night, juvenile tribes prowl the streets of Tondo. An explosive hiphop, freestyle gangsta celebration of inner city Manila."

<i>My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done</i> 2009 American film

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done is a 2009 crime drama film directed by Werner Herzog, and written by Herzog and Herbert Golder. The film stars Michael Shannon as Brad McCullam, a mentally unstable man who kills his own mother after becoming obsessed with a play he is starring in. The film follows a hostage situation resulting from the murder, while also showing the events of McCullam's life leading up to the murder in flashback, with Willem Dafoe appearing as the lead detective, and Chloë Sevigny as McCullam's fiancée.

<i>Perverted Criminal</i> 1967 Japanese film

Perverted Criminal, or Abnormal Criminal, is a 1967 Japanese pink film directed by Kōji Seki. It was the first 3-D film produced in Japan, and, according to Allmovie, the world's first 3-D sex film.

<i>Victim</i> (1999 film) 1999 Hong Kong film

Victim is a 1999 Hong Kong thriller film directed and co-written by Ringo Lam. The film stars Tony Leung Ka-fai, Lau Ching-wan and Amy Kwok and is about a computer programmer named Ma who is found in a haunted hotel by a cop. The programmer begins to terrify his girlfriend Amy Fu, which leads the cops to think that Ma is covering up some larger crime.

Phi Tai Hong is a ghost of Thai folklore. It is the vengeful and restless spirit of a person who suddenly suffered a violent or cruel death.

<i>Fiksi.</i> 2008 Indonesian thriller film

Fiksi., sometimes stylized as fiksi. is a 2008 Indonesian thriller film directed by Mouly Surya in her directorial debut. It tells the story of Alisha, a young woman who moves to a cheap apartment from her mansion, where she meets people with unique characters and stories which she soon incorporates into her obsessive fantasy. According to Surya, the film is an "adult re-invention of Alice in Wonderland" with the character of Alisha being an inverted version of Alice.

References

  1. ↑ Film concept Archived 2007-10-12 at the Wayback Machine , official website, retrieved 2007-09-26
  2. 1 2 3 4 Director's notes Archived 2007-10-12 at the Wayback Machine , official website, retrieved 2007-09-26
  3. ↑ Locations Archived 2007-10-12 at the Wayback Machine , official website, retrieved 2007-09-26
  4. 1 2 3 Kuipers, Richard. October 18, 2006. The Victim (review), Variety (magazine), retrieved 2007-09-26
  5. ↑ The Victim Archived 2008-04-18 at the Wayback Machine at the 2007 Fantasia Festival
  6. ↑ Allard, Jeff. The Victim, Shock Till You Drop. Retrieved 2007-09-26
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.